Suffield BioSense Trial 2006
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SINBAHD performance

By the end of 2001, the SINBAHD project had demonstrated the capability of using UV laserinduced fluorescence (LIF) with intensified range-gated spectrometry to detect and characterize bioaerosols from a stand-off position. In the spring of 2005, Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) initiated the BioSense demonstration project, which combines SINBAHD technology with a georeferenced near-infrared lidar cloud mapper. The scope of this technology demonstration project is to build and demonstrate a spectrometric LIF lidar scanning device to detect, map, track and classify bioaerosol threats from multi-kilometre distances. The project includes a variety of field trials using the SINBAHD platform to supply data for the algorithm strategy development and to populate the spectral signature library. In September 2006, SINBAHD participated in a two-week trial held at DRDC Suffield, where different open-air wet releases of live and killed bioagent simulants, growth media and obscurants were performed. An autoclave killing procedure was performed on two biological agent simulants before they were aerosolized, disseminated and spectrally characterized. The results showed that this killing methodology has no significant impact on the spectral signature. Correlation assessment between SINBAHD and the slit sampler results was done, allowing an estimation of SINBAHD’s sensitivity in agent containing particles per litre of air (ACPLA). A detection limit of a few tens of ACPLA was obtained for a 15-m th